Baseball. Rock ’n’ roll. NASCAR. Odd topics for a science festival? Not so! Just ask Douglas R. King, president and CEO of the Saint Louis Science Center, which is sponsoring the first SciFest October 9 to 13.
To win the three-year sponsorship of that event, the center “put together the kind of presentation you would have if you were trying to get a major sporting event here,” King relates. (Appropriately, advising the center early in the process was Frank Viverito, president of the St. Louis Sports Commission.)
Roughly 20 cities at first vied to host SciFest; after a two-year winnow, St. Louis beat three other finalists—Boston, New York and San Francisco.
The festival’s program director, Naomi Joshi, says it will comprise 60-plus sessions—demonstrations, workshops and so forth—before concluding with a symposium on the future of science here. It will also feature a parallel track for children.
King and Joshi both make SciFest sound like an old-time salon. “In order to present, you have to be a terrific speaker and a scientist who really wants to talk with the public and hear what they’ve got to say,” Joshi says. “This isn’t just a presentation—it’s a conversation.”
Locals engaging in that conversation will include Cheryl Asa of the Saint Louis Zoo (discussing the olfactory and genetic underpinnings of mating rituals among animals and humans alike) and Randy Larsen of Washington University’s psychology department (exploring what makes us happy). The Oakland Avenue complex will also welcome presenters from Cornell, Harvard and Johns Hopkins, as well as from other countries.
Beyond the national pastime, the devil’s music and high-octane race cars, Joshi says SciFest will tackle “topics that you know that most human beings are interested in—for example, beer, chocolate, sex. All the time there’s gonna be just amazing things going on.” She laughs, adding, “At least, that’s the plan.”
During the next three years, the center projects SciFest will draw 90,000 visitors to the city and generate tourism revenues of $4.7 million. And for potential attendees fretful about lacking a lab coat or a grounding in calculus, King also quickly provides reassurance: “You don’t have to be able to hit a curve ball to go to the game.”
